A collaborative field-mapping initiative · 2024–2026
Making the field of systemic investing visible to itself.
For the past two years, we've been mapping how the emerging field of systemic investing actually works — synthesizing 42 stakeholder interviews into a causal loop diagram, an ecosystem role map, and a handbook of the field's dynamics, blockers, and leverage points.
Led by Omplexity (Joe Hsueh, Alex Tsai) · in partnership with FEST, TransCap Initiative, TWIST, Deep Transitions Lab, and Meridian Institute · funded by the Gong Family Foundation
Path one
Read the in-depth analysis
Explore the synthesis from 42 stakeholder interviews — the maps, the storylines, the 24 leverage points, and the open questions the field is wrestling with.
View the materials ↓
Three resources · self-paced
Path two
Take the survey, help build collective intelligence
Tell us what you know about the leverage points — who's working on them, what's needed, and what's missing. Your input shapes the June workshop agenda.
Start the survey →
≈ 5 min minimum · 20 min if you want to go deep
About the SIFM project
The Systemic Investing Field Mapping (SIFM) initiative is led by Omplexity — Joe Hsueh's systems-mapping consultancy with Alex Tsai as lead systems thinker and impact investment analyst — in partnership with four anchor field-building organizations: FEST (Financial Ecosystems for Systemic Transformation), TransCap Initiative, TWIST, and Deep Transitions Lab, with Meridian Institute as collaborator. The work is funded by the Gong Family Foundation.
The initiative emerged from a simple observation: the field of systemic investing is growing rapidly, but the practitioners, funders, and field builders within it can't yet see the field as a whole. Different traditions use different vocabularies. Coordination happens by accident. Capital flows through some loops and not others. Field-building work goes unfunded because there's no shared picture of what it's contributing to.
Our method
Conducted 42 in-depth interviews with stakeholders across the systemic investing ecosystem — investors, intermediaries, community-based practitioners, academics, and field builders, from four anchor organizations and external voices including Bertha Centre, Mútua, SIIF (Japan), Toniic, Pando Fund, CO_, and TIIP.
Extracted variables from each interview and normalized them to the FEST ontology for inter-org comparability.
Cross-validated variables across multiple interviews and against FEST/TCI prior research.
Constructed a causal loop diagram (CLD) showing how variables drive each other — 70+ variables across 12 feedback loops (7 reinforcing, 5 balancing), with explicit macro–micro bridges.
Verified the map through two stakeholder workshops (Summit + online convening on 3/18), iterating based on practitioner feedback.
Synthesized the analysis into nine storylines and 24 leverage points organized into a four-cluster matrix.
The work is intentionally held lightly — as Harvey Koh put it, a map can become "THE map" and stop being useful as a conversation tool. What we've produced is a starting point for shared sense-making, not a finished model.
Three resources
What we've built — and what each is designed for
If you'd rather read than fill in a survey, here's everything we've put together. Each is designed for a different question.
Ecosystem Role Map
Where do you sit in the field?
A tree-shaped map of the seven role types in systemic investing — arranged across three levels: macro (soil, water, air & sunshine — field builders), meso (root system & mycelial network — backbones and weavers), and micro (trees & fruits — resource providers and local organizations). Iterated through three stakeholder workshops based on practitioner feedback.
Designed for anyone working in or around systemic investing to locate themselves in the ecosystem, identify the role(s) they play, and spot the actors they need to coalesce with for collective action.
How to use: Place yourself on the map. Then look at the roles around yours — who do you regularly work with, and who's missing from your network? Use it as a coalition-building tool.
The Systemic Investing Field Map — a causal loop diagram built from 42 interviews. 70+ variables across 12 feedback loops (7 reinforcing, 5 balancing), with explicit macro–micro bridges. FEST-ontology-aligned. Renders interactively in Kumu.io.
Designed for understanding why the field is stuck in what we call the pre-scaling trap — where the field-building engine and the capital-flow engine each need the other to run, but neither alone can break through. The 24 leverage points come directly from where these loops can be unlocked.
How to use: Read it loop by loop, or trace a specific dynamic from cause to effect. It's a conversation tool across different traditions, not a definitive model.
A consolidated narrative synthesizing 42 stakeholder interviews into nine storylines (Evidence Engine, Fiduciary Lock, Missing Middle, Visibility Gap, Credibility Trap, Tower of Babel, Conformity Squeeze, Epistemological Blind Spot, plus cross-cutting dynamics). Includes the 24 leverage points organized into the four-cluster matrix, boundary organizations, and the open questions the field is wrestling with.
Designed for field builders, funders, and practitioners who want a shared ground of analysis before designing strategy or partnerships — and who are willing to engage with the field's complexity rather than reach for the simplest story.
How to use: Read it from start to finish for the full synthesis, or jump to the storyline most relevant to your work. The leverage points at the end are where the survey picks up.
Here's how we'll handle what you share. Please read, then agree before continuing.
What we'll use your response for
Your responses feed into the SIFM synthesis report and inform the June Collective Action Workshop agenda.
Aggregated, anonymized patterns will be shared with practitioners and funders to support field-level coordination.
Your individual response stays internal to the SIFM project team unless you explicitly opt in to quoting at the end of the survey.
What we won't do
We won't share your individual response with anyone outside the SIFM project team.
We won't quote you in public reports without asking your permission first.
We won't sell, license, or transfer your data to any third party.
We won't use your response for anything other than SIFM research purposes.
Your rights
You can request deletion of your response any time by emailing the project team.
You can change your opt-in preferences after submitting.
You can skip any question that isn't marked Required.
Please tick the box to confirm you've read and agree.
About you
A few details so we can connect responses to the field.
Required
Required
Required
Required
At least one
Select all that apply.
I attended the SIFM Summit workshop (in person)
I attended the SIFM online stakeholder workshop
I was interviewed for this project
Through one of the four host orgs (FEST, TransCap, TWIST, Deep Transitions Lab)
Forwarded by a colleague
Other
At least one
Pick the role(s) you actually do — not aspirational. Roles are organized by level: macro (field-building conditions), meso (connective infrastructure), and micro (direct actors). Multi-select welcome.
★
What the star means. When you select a role, it appears as a chip with an empty star (☆). Tap that star to mark it as your primary role (★) — the one most central to your current work. You can only have one primary at a time. We use this to weight responses, match you to coalitions of similar practitioners, and ensure every leverage point gets perspectives from every role-type that should be in the room.
Optional
If you see a role that should be on this map but isn't, tell us what it is and why.
Optional
The field is called different things — tick whichever resonates.
Optional
I'm new to this — exploring
Familiar with concepts but new to SIFM specifically
I'm a practitioner working in or adjacent to the field
I'm a field builder shaping the framing itself
Please fill in name, email, organization, region, at least one referral source, and at least one role.
Where does your energy lie?
Pick the leverage point(s) you can contribute knowledge to. Cross-cluster selection welcome.
1
Skim the four clusters
Each card below shows what the cluster is about.
2
Read the definitions
Each leverage point has a brief definition. Pick the ones you can speak to.
3
Brainstorm next
For each one selected, you'll answer a short set of questions.
How we identified these leverage points
We classified each leverage point using Donella Meadows' framework — twelve places to intervene in a system, from shallow (L12) to deep (L1). See the full L1–L12 framework ↓
About the Donella Meadows framework
Donella Meadows identified twelve leverage points in a system, ranked from least to most powerful. Deeper levels are harder to shift but produce more profound, lasting change.
L1 — Power to transcend paradigms.
L2 — Mindset or paradigm.
L3 — Goals of the system.
L4 — Power to self-organize structure.
L5 — Rules.
L6 — Information flows.
L7 — Gain around driving positive feedback loops.
L8 — Strength of negative (corrective) feedback loops.
L9 — Length of delays.
L10 — Structure of material stocks and flows.
L11 — Sizes of buffers and stocks.
L12 — Constants, parameters, numbers.
Please select at least one leverage point.
0 leverage points selected
One last round — totally optional
If you have a few more minutes, these answers help us spot what we're missing.
Optional
Optional
Names, orgs, communities — especially Global South voices and community-led work.
About the Collective Action Workshop (June)
A facilitated multi-day gathering forming working coalitions around the highest-energy leverage points. The synthesis of your responses (and others') will set the agenda. Participation is by invitation; opting in below puts you on the list.
How would you like to stay involved?
✓
Thank you.
Your input shapes what happens in June. We'll synthesize responses by leverage point and share what emerges before the workshop.
Take the resources with you
The maps and handbook are yours to use, share, and reference.